Then he saw it
Folded neatly in the corner on the bottom shelf covered in dust was a green A dark green Randidly walked over and picked it up The fabric was rich and smooth and as Randidly unfolded the Tassle he realized that it glittered emerald in the sun It was rich and vibrant silky and fluid in his hands
Is this acceptable Randidly asked uncertainly The woman smiled and brought him a brush
Now bring it to the table and write your name
They spread the emerald Tassle on the table and Randidly looked at the brush in his hand with shock This was
Just like the Engraving Needle he could feel his mana tremble as he held it almost as if they were ready to flow down along the brush and into the Tassle There was no ink but Randidly knew that if he set the brush to the Tassle
More than that though he felt EVERYTHING tremble His health seemed prepared to slide out of him and onto the fabric and his stamina too Even a thin thread of Aether seemed to be flowing downwards to his fingers
Somewhat lost in the feeling Randidly lowered the brush to the fabric and smoothly wrote Randidly After several weeks although he wasn’t a master he had at least a pretty solid familiarity with how to pool the energy when the letters curved and be smooth and light when there were straight lines
But after finishing Randidly he realized that as he was using everything he had much more reserves to spare he had barely used ? of anything So this time as he slowly drew out the words Ghosthound on the Tassle he took his time carefully filling every stroke with energy Letting the health mana stamina and hint of Aether pool like an ocean beneath each letter Letting currents building and grow in the depths of his writing
Suddenly Randidly blinked looking at the words He had finished His hands were trembling and the darkness at the corners of his vision seemed to indicate his health was very low In addition his body felt raw and twitchy as if an electric current had run through him
But before him the word Randidly was spelled simply the writing serviceable and gold on the emerald background
But Ghosthound
Ghosthound was larger and looping filling the entire middle portion of the Tassle with graceful and imposing letters It felt like a challenge to the world a prideful statement of one’s own worth
Shal made a disgusting noise Ostentatious
The woman simply laughed
They left with the Tassle and a matching strip of cloth in the same emerald color which when they arrived back at their boat they hung from the mast As they did so everyone in the surrounding boats stilled and then looked up at the emerald cloth quietly It certainly stood out a lot amongst the orange red and yellow but there were blue and light green flags at least a few of them so why was green such a big deal
Even the silent old man who hadn’t reacted to their arrival shifted and looked up at the emerald streamer for a long second Then his gaze slid to Randidly
Chuckling the man said Seems my old boat is going to be lively these days Then he returned to his meditations a small smile on his face
Randidly had asked multiple times about the meaning of the colors but Shal had just ignored him stating that they would talk in the morning and left leaving Randidly to his own room and his own thoughts
To his surprise he checked his status screen to discover that he had gained 7 levels in the Spear Advances Ash Trails in that single use It seemed that either image was really that important or the fact that he was against that powerful spear woman had really boosted his experience He also received a level in Phantom Half Step
That PP was enough to get another tick up on his Soul Skill earning him +15 Stamina and +1 Agility and Strength
Struck by a sudden thought Randidly closed his eyes focusing his eyes inward turning his attention to that place in his chest where his Soul Skill spun slowly continually rotating around While he watched previously there were slow gradual changes in the cycle as he witnessed rot balloon up the biological matter only to have it burn to ash refining it slowly
But now Randidly checked within himself watching closely After a time he opened his eyes
Yes it was happening The use of PP sped up the process Peppering the soil were now small sand like grains of crystal holding a strange energy within them This was the energy refined from the continued cycle the pure minerals that could be used to enrich a certain growth
To his eyes they glowed emerald eerily similar to the shade he picked out for his Tassle earlier that day
Chapter 126
Randidly wasn’t sure exactly what to do yet with this information about the happenings of his Soul Skill but he filed it away Image was becoming increasingly important and without a strong image of what this would mean for his soul skill he didn’t want to push forward too far Instead he set those thoughts aside and turned to other topics
Namely his new skill Plantomancy In a way it reminded Randidly of his Soul Seed or at least a less versatile version Whereas Soul Seed would imitate any skill he used and grow into a plant based upon that Plantomancy seemed more like the plant version of Necromancy albeit poorly named Plus it likely didn’t require an Aether investment which was why Randidly had recently been so leery about creating another Soul Seed
Well the Aether problem but also that it was much harder to keep track of what was going into the Soul Seed without notifications And he had very much so lost himself in the training these past few weeks
Plus he didn’t really know what to do with Soul Seeds so Randidly didn’t want to commit to making any Although he assumed that there would be powerful benefits from having quite a few plant minions leveled to a powerful state and ready to go he was also unsure of how much help they would be
Thorn had certainly gotten big but as far as Randidly could tell he was a rather lazy plant that would skulk around following Decklan’s squad feeding on the scraps left by it Meanwhile Arbor was busy just gathering attention from the people of Donnyton cajoling them into dancing with it All in all it left Randidly quite exasperated these weren’t the plant minions that he wanted
But perhaps his Plantomancy would provide the answer Randidly desired So he focused on the spell in his mind letting the strange instinctual knowledge fill him He kept his eyes closed too so he could better feel the shape of the Aether that constituted the skill
It honestly did very little to help Randidly in terms of functionality The strange twists and turns of Aether that he sensed remained inscrutable But it did give him a familiarity with its shape the strange place it held in his body and the small trace of Aether that connected that skill to the pulsing spring of burning numb energy in Randidly’s chest It beat like a heart proving he was alive and the sigil that was Plantomancy glowed softly along with it
Randidly’s eyes snapped open his eyes sparkling Although it was certainly a long way off
he couldn’t help but notice that the sigils he had within him for skills seemed to be similar in construction to the runes he made with engraving
But Randidly supposed his level was too low in all respects to consider what that meant currently Instead he channeled mana and used the first Plantomancy formula that he sensed letting the mana move through him He made no effort to flex his mana and instead just cast the spell
It cost 100 mana and out of the wood of the planks that made up the floor of his room on the boat roots began to curl upwards But Randidly did not guide them but instead watched fascinated as the spell twisted them and wrapped them moving them around and through each other wrapping them tighter and tighter almost like a pretzel
The roots bulged and pulsed and on one of the front roots the front parted revealing two glowing specs of mana Eight gnarled legs twisted outward touching the wooden planks the connecting roots between it and the floor withering away to dust
Randidly looked down at his freshly summoned Root Spider bemused It looked back up at him perfectly still Although it was only the size of a dinner plate and made entirely of roots it was still quite fearsome in a disfigured sort of way It was also true there wasn’t a connection of Aether but a mana connection remained between them and Randidly used it to issue a simple command Leap